Elastic effects of liquids on surface physics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how liquids induce elastic stresses on solid surfaces at the nanoscale, affecting surface deformation and stability through local strains and torques.

Contribution

It introduces a model describing the elastic effects of liquids on surfaces, emphasizing local strain and torque contributions beyond average hydrostatic pressure.

Findings

Liquid-induced stresses are significant at nanometer curvatures.

Local strains generate torques that influence surface regularization.

Surface undulations are affected by the elastic response to liquid contact.

Abstract

The contact between a liquid and an elastic solid generates a stress vector depending on the curvature tensor in each point of the separating surface. For nanometer values of the mean curvature and for suitable materials, the stress vector takes significant amplitude on the surface. Although the surface average action of the liquid on the solid is the hydrostatic pressure, the local strain generates torques tending to regularize the surface undulations and asperities.